Although the legal market for vaporizers or tobacco heaters has grown in the country, it was still only a tiny fraction compared to conventional cigarettes. Philip Morris International, one of the distributors of these alternatives, has grown from 35,000 to about 42,000 tobacco heater users. At ± same time, the tobacco industry has increased its sales from 878 to 1,246 million pesos per year over the past five years, according to ± INEGI estimates. Globally, the use of nicotine alternatives is growing rapidly and gaining value as users change their preferences. In Mexico©, there are nearly a thousand consumer protection regulations to be able to have legal access to vapers. (Shutterstock) Therefore, the ban now has a new way: eliminate the legal importation of congressional devices. The Senate passed the new General Law on Import and Export Taxes, saying vapers are “undoubtedly harmful” and that their aerosol emissions “could even be comparable to the health hazard posed by conventional combustible cigarettes.” The problem is that there is a significant section that goes from restriction and lack of advertising to prohibition, especially when you look at the black market in Mexico. Mexico and the World Vaping said in September 2021 that sales of vapers in Mexico had skyrocketed following the ban on their importation by presidential decree, and Philip Morris said that a complete ban on vapers would only promote the illegal market. That is precisely what happened in the Senate, where the majority of parties opposed the ban and came out in favour of the regulation. According to Miguel Méndez Machuca, owner of Coepris in Tijuana, despite the attempt to control the sale, there are other spaces used for marketing that are now considered illegal in Mexico.
This is the case with social networks. Regardless of the protections and time their process takes, CiriÓn warned that the lack of regulations for importing and selling vaporizers in Mexico©has triggered the presence of products on the black market. Do not vape, do not heat tobacco, but also do not smoke. Mexican© President Manuel Lépez© Obrador on Tuesday signed a decree banning the “circulation and marketing” of vapers and electronic cigarettes. First, the government vetoed the importation of these devices, a move that was later overturned by the country`s Supreme Court. Later©, other institutions joined the struggle. A few weeks ago, the Senate passed the General Law on Import and Export Tax, which again excluded these products from legal import, as neither vapers nor heaters are currently produced in the country. Today, finally, the president has banned legal sales.
Last September, Mexico©and Vaping World (Mexvap) told El Financiero that there are nearly a thousand consumer protection measures in place to have legal access to vapers to quit smoking, but of those, only 16 have been resolved. “What we are doing is leaving distribution in the hands of the black market, instead of responsible companies that can be sanctioned, importing them, paying taxes, paying wages, and we are pushing this issue for informality and illegality, as happened in the case of marijuana,” said Senator Luis Ortiz. These warnings and now the measures taken have sparked a debate about the risks of black market vaporizers entering the smuggled country. “We leave distribution to the black market, instead of allowing some companies to import them, pay taxes and wages, we leave this issue in informality and illegality,” Senator Luis Ortiz said during the discussion of the tax law. Mexvap estimates that 35% of vaping users, or a total of one million people, have started smoking cigarettes again because of the ban, as consumers fear that it will get complicated or that they will not be able to find illegal products. Trade in e-cigarettes has been banned in Mexico since May 2008, when the General Tobacco Control Law was enacted. However, it was necessary to harmonize the legal framework in order to prevent illegal trade practices in these products, which is reflected today in the issuance of this presidential decree which, in the exercise of the powers conferred on the President of the Republic by article 131 of the Constitution, finally homologates the General Law on Import and Export Taxes with the above-mentioned General Law on Tobacco Control.